Teachers can confront issues of students' infrequent reading and infrequent choice of content area texts by using specific instructional strategies that are highly motivating. Five research-based language arts strategies that many teachers use to successfully teach content area information are: (1) previewing vocabulary and content; (2) developing…

Modern means that can be used in the framework of teaching substantially extend the possibilities of schoolmasters, but they also complicate the pedagogical process. Can we make really effective use of them? Have we, at their application, really greater pedagogical effect? How do we include the possibilities of audiovisual techniques into the…

Presents results of research into the relationship between two anxiety measures and performance on a visual concept acquisition task for university undergraduates. Analysis of variance indicates a significant interaction between cueing treatment and scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Further research using different populations and…

Visualization is an effective technique for determining exactly what students must do to solve a mathematics problem. Pictures and charts can be used to help children understand which mathematics facts are present and which are missing--an important step toward problem solving. (PP)

This brief survey of successful visual literacy programs designed for students at the elementary and secondary level outlines projects to teach visual communication skills in Ohio, Indiana (Project Visual Understanding in Education/VUE), Virginia, Iowa (Media NOW), California, Canada, England, and Australia (Visual Education Curriculum Project).…

Differences in how the two hemispheres of the brain handle spatial information were studied with blind subjects and blindfolded sighted subjects. The performances of all groups declined as the relative disorientation between the target and its duplicate increased, suggesting that visual imagery is not crucial to mental rotation. (Author/SEW)

A study investigated the effectiveness of stereochemistry lap-dissolve projection as an aid to students in developing three-dimensional imaging and whether certain visual orientation tasks could be correlated with aptitude. Students found the slides helpful, and a modest correlation of achievement and visual skills was found. (MSE)

Discusses the differences of perception and interpretation of visual aids between African and Western students and considers the implications for designers and producers of learning materials for African students. (Author/JJD)

In a study, kindergarten and third grade students were given handwriting copying practice using different perceptual prompts to reproduce model letter forms. Results indicate that groups trained with perceptual prompts produced more accurate reproductions. (Author/JN)

Argues that visual literacy should be studied through a cognitive approach, and describes principles of punctuating and structuring that can be used to develop a new standard of experimental validity. Triadic interaction theory and the role of strategies in research are discussed, as well as a new orientation to research. (BK)

Describes the Envelope Vowel Approximation System (EVAS), a foreign language pronunciation learning system which allows students to see as well as hear a pedagogical model of a sound, and to compare their own utterances of that sound to the model as they pronounce the same sound. (Author/CMV)